Therapeutic Device for Osteoarthritis
The Motivaid is a therapeutic arm band that is designed to reduce the pain in the wrists of osteoarthritis patients through the use the use of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS). Resistive heating is simultaneously applied to gently soothe the joint and reduce swelling. The user then gets progress reports after a session, letting the user gauge their improvement.
"Design an affordable Passive device to aid Hand, Arm or Shoulder muscle rehabilitation at home."
The brief set by Sagentia.
This was an 8 month long team project for the second year undergraduates on the Product Design Engineering Course at Loughborough University. Here, I outline some of my contributions to the project.
Above are the concept designs that I had come up with during the initial stages of the project. The design spec was fairly open at this stage, keeping the field open to solluitons for elbows, shoulders and finger joints in addition to wrists. The age group hadn't been finalised yet and design for children was also considered.
I was also resposible for a mock PCB design. Although the working prototype was going to use an Arduino Uno, it was important to show that the electronic components required for the device would fit on a board small enough to be concealed in the flexible silicone structure. For this, I had the opportunity to familiarise myself with the Computer Aided PCB Design software package, EAGLE.
The screen for showing the progress in the TENS application or to set the TENS level in settings.
The screen for showing the progress in the heating application or to set the heat level in settings.
The screen to show work-out progress.
Various aesthetic styles were tried out to come up with the best one to display the information clearly and avoid confusion. Shown here is the "Achievements" screen.
This was the 4th and final iteration of the proposed UI map and taken forward.
UX Design for the circular display of the device was largely my responsibility. Simple "on-off" UI elements kept the information communication simple and incogrpahy used solid "filled-in" shapes that would be easy to see for older users. I was also incharge of designing the menu system map for the UI.
Initially, the plan was to go with a "medical" themed blue and white which also matched Sagentia's brand colours.
Experimenting with matching poster background with CAD render background.
A lighter shade of grey was used. Logo (made by another team member) changed from blue to grey to fit with theme.
In order to make the poster stand out and grab the viewers attention, I began considering alternative colour schemes.
Repositioning the CAD render over the "step" to give a pop-out effect.
The pop-out effect was intended to increase the chances of drawing attention.
Augmenting the pop-out effect with louder colours seemed like the way to go since it would stand out amongst stereotypical "medical" theme posters.
After bouncing around colour combinations with the rest of the team, this was the colour ultimately used for all "promotional material" including flyers and the slideshow theme for the keynote.
Making the text flow along with the elements of the the poster making it feel more integrated with them.
To top off winning the competition, the poster I had designed for our team also won "Best Poster". Above is the iteration process gone into making it.
On many levels, even besides the actual award, this was the most rewarding project to have worked on at university, thanks to the increadibly passionate team memebrs and each individual's commitment to the project. And a special word of apprciation to our supervisor, Paul Maynard, for his encouragement, guidance and positive spirit.